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Echoes of Eco
September, 2018 Vivekananda Kendra- nardep Newsletter Vol:10 No: 7

An Extracts from the gathering addressed by Mr.Felix, In this issue:

Vice Minister of Bolivian • An Extract from the gathering

addressed by Mr.Felix, Vice
Minister of Bolivian – “Law of
Law of Mother Earth - The Rights of Our Planet
Mother Earth”
A Vision from Bolivia
• The Happenings

• Visions of Wisdom:

➢ Fight – Being verses Having

➢ Need for Civilizational

Transition

➢ Moral Hygiene

Who has a right to life? Only one species? Do humans have

the right to exterminate any species they want to kill?
Today, we are living in the age of the greatest wave of
extinctions since the Permian extinction 250 million years
ago.
There are those who call this "progress". There are others,
however, that have a different vision.
Around the world many people are coming to see the present
world system as a form of suicidal madness.
In Bolivia there is a government that has a creative vision of
life, a vision that goes back to original views of life from samāno mantraḥ samitih samānī
ancient times. samānaṃ manaḥ sahacittameṣām
Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia. We need not agree
samānaṃ mantramabhimantraye vaḥ
with all he says.
However, we believe that his vision of the value of life, all samānena vo haviṣā juhomi ||
life, has merit.
We believe that we cannot survive on this planet if we fail to May our purpose be the same; may
see that human life cannot exist outside of nature. we all be of one mind. In order for
This Bolivian law is a creative vision to put into law a system
such unity to form I offer a
that preserves the biological foundations of life.
We do see it as a revolutionary step forward in terms of
common prayer
global thinking. (Rig Veda)

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, September 2018, Vol.10 No: 7
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 “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure
about the universe”
The ‘Law on the Rights of Mother Earth’ was
approved by the Bolivian government in October
2010. An interview with the Bolivian Vice-
Minister of Decolonisation, Mr.Felix Cardenas.
Mr.Felix addressing the gathering
What are the objectives of the Bolivian
government with this law?
An indigenous people, we have suffered from 500
years of colonization. The colonial model of
development is harmful to Mother Earth in many
ways. This has to change. As indigenous peoples
we have to show to the ‘over-developed countries’
that it is possible to live in harmony with nature.
But we should also not romanticize the indigenous
movement. It’s a question of finding the
equilibrium between all dimensions.
The law emerged as a proposal of the indigenous
peoples to the international UN climate change
conference in Cancun, Mexico in November 2010.
We wanted to discuss principles: what risks for
Mother Earth does the current production
system and neo-liberal economic model pose. We
also wanted to discuss the morality of present
day politics. With this law, the Bolivian Govt. h as
put the Rights of Mother Earth into the hands of
the people and put it on the global agenda.
Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, September 2018, Vol.10 No: 7
- Albert Einstein
What are the major challenges to implement this
law?
We have to start at the local level, because there
are many problems, for example with
fundamentalist ecological groups. All have rights,
so the key question is: how to balance the needs
of human beings with the needs of Mother Earth?
Mother Earth is not simply natural resources. For
us Mother Earth is Pachamama, is spirituality;
these elements cannot be separated. Spirituality
for us implies respect for Mother Earth, living in
harmony with all other living beings. We intent to
further elaborate this law in dialogue with the
indigenous and social movements.
What image would represent the rights of
Mother Earth?
Marriage serves as an example of the equilibrium
between human beings and nature. For example,
the Aymara marriage has a detailed protocol of
ceremonies intimately linked to Mother Earth.
The family is “the seed” of the Aymara
community, with life rules such as living in “Ayni”
– reciprocity, complementarity and consensus. On
the wedding day, the deities of community-
managed lands at different attitudes in the
highlands are visited and asked for protection.
In these time – spaces, and with the help of both
masculine and feminine energies, the spiritual
leaders give their teachings to the teachings to
the newlywed couple. In the Andean world, unity
means two.
 “If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself ”
- Albert Einstein

Happenings this month: Happenings this month: Happenings this month:

Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture

Training programme on “Terrace garden” was held at Feedback from the field
Technology Resource Center on 1st September. 03
participants attended the training. Shri.S.Rajamony was
Azolla as a Nutrient supplement
the resource person.
Shri.R.Ramkumar Raja
2/762-8,V.O.C Nagar, Soolakkarai Medu
Virudhunagar-3. (Mob):9994273424

Camp participants at Terrace garden

Training programme on “NPK Rich Bio-manure preparation

technology” was held at Vivekanandapuram on 22nd
September. 02 participants attended the training.
Shri.S.Rajamony was the resource person.

My name is R Ramkumar Raja. I am basically a Civil

Engineer and a building contractor. I have undergone
training at Vivekananda Kendra earlier and so got
inspiration to grow Azolla.

I have taken loan from the bank for piggery unit. I also
constructed permanent concrete tanks for growing Azolla.
I am happy with the growth of Azolla and giving it as a
nutrient to the pigs.

Recently on 25th August, I again went to Vivekananda

Kendra to update my knowledge and to get guidance for
NPK Rich Bio-manure trainees enthusiastically learning vermi -
technology also
optimum production of Azolla. My next plan is to develop
a unit of Goat rearing and Poultry.

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, September 2018, Vol.10 No: 7
 “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If
you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales”
- Albert Einstein

Happenings this month: Happenings this

Happenings this month
Shelter month:
Holistic Health

Workshop on “Role of Traditional Siddha Varma Bone Green health home worked for 4 days and treated 203
Setting” was held at Technology Resource Center on 24th patients.
and 25th September. 38 Vaidyas attended.
Dr.V.Ganapathy and his team acted as resource persons. “Mass Siddha Varma Green Health Camp” was held at
Green Rameswaram building, Mangammal Chatram,
Rameswaram on 18th September. 490 patients were
benefited. Medicines given for 15 days. Dr.V.Ganapathy
and his team acted as resource persons.

Practical demonstration is on ….

Inauguration function –Mass Siddha Varma Green Health Camp

Doctors, Vaidyas, and Volunteers posing for photograph after the

camp

Echoes
Echoes
of Eco
of Eco
- Newsletter,
- Newsletter,
Vivekananda
Vivekananda
Kendra
Kendra
– nardep,
– nardep,
September
July 2018,
2018,
Vol.10
Vol.10
No:No:
5 7
 “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep
moving”
- Albert Einstein

Happenings this month: Happenings this

Happenings this month:
Renewable Energy month:
Renewable Energy

Training programme on “Bio-methanation technology” was
held at Technology Resource Center on 22nd September.
02 participants attended. Shri.V.Ramakrishnan was the
9. 13th13th
resource person.
Training programme on “Waste to Energy” was held at
National Institute of Technology, Trichy on 27th
September. 75 students attended. Shri.V.Ramakrishnan
was the resource person.

Shri.V.Ramakrishnan explaining the uses of Shakti Surabhi Bio-

methanation plant through power point

Participants during “Bio-methanation – multiple usages” training

Training programme on “Bio-methanation – multiple

usages” was held at Technology Resource Center on 28th
September. 61 participants attended.
Shri.V.Ramakrishnan was the resource person.

Stakeholders Meet was organized by NABARD,

Kanyakumari district at Pioneer Grand Palace, Nagercoil
on 19th September. 40 members attended.
Construction of Bio-methanation plants –
Shri.V.Ramakrishnan presented a paper on “Vermi Wash
IFAD, Ramanathapuram
technology”.
Portable type 1cum – 18 nos.

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, September 2018, Vol.10 No: 7
 “A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it”
Happenings this month:
Happenings this month:
Networking
Training programme on “Organic farming” was held at
Melpuram on 3 rd
September. 30 farmers attended the
training. Shri.S.Rajamony was the resource person. The
programme was sponsored by ATMA, Kanyakumari Dist.
Camp participant sharing the feed back
Training programme on “Terrace garden” was held at
Vivekanandapuram on 20th September. 63 participants
attended the training. Shri.S.Rajamony was
resource person. The programme was sponsored by Govt.
Polytechnic, Konam, Nagercoil.
ShriS.Rajamony interacting with the participants
Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, September 2018, Vol.10 No: 7
- Albert Einstein
Happenings this
month:
Networking
National Traditional Siddha Varma conference was held at
Vivekanandapuram on 26th September. About 200 Vaidyas
attended. Dr.V.Ganapathy and his team acted as resource
persons. Shri.Rahul Nadh, IAS, Additional Collector,
Kanyakumari attended in the inauguration session. The
programme was organized by Traditional Siddha Varma
Healers Association.
the
Shri.Rahul Nadh, IAS addressing the conference
Training programme on “Azolla cultivation” was held at
Kurunthancode on 28th September. 40 farmers attended
the training. Shri.S.Rajamony was the resource person.
The programme was sponsored by ATMA, Kanyakumari
Dist.
Rohini College of Engineering, Palkulam, Kanyakumari Dist.
conducted NSS camp at Agasteeswaram on 28th
September. During the camp Shri.C.Vijayaraghavan tought
Yogasana practices to the students.
 “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious”
Fight – Being verses
Having
The question “Who am I?” becomes
“What do I own?” In the fight “being”
versus “having” evolves an altogether
different state of self-identity, in
which who you are equated with what
you own. Having is a state of need, of
greed, of wanting, and owning and
acquiring more things, protecting them,
and planning to add to the pile.
Being in the other hand is a state of
presence, and experience that is an
active state of engagement with self,
with others, and even with the material
world.
Therapy is helping clients to focus more
on being and less on having. Being leads
to greater self-awareness and intimacy.
Having is more often associated with a
number of psychological difficulties
related to greed, narcissism,
exploitation, and reckless indulgence.
Jeffrey
A.Kottler
Professor,
psychologist and
Author
Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, September 2018, Vol.10 No: 7
Vivekananda Kendra – nardep, Kanyakumari-629702 Phone:91-4652-246296 www.vknardep.org
Visions of Wisdom
Need for
Civilizational
Transition
As recent research has shown,
industrialised countries, if they
aspire to become good global
neighbors, will have to bring down
their resource consumption by a
factor of 10 within the next 50
years. No doubt, this enormous
challenge would amount to a
civilizational transition of sorts,
bringing both technological talents
and new public virtues to bear.
However, sufficiency has been the
hallmark of justice before the
dreams of infinity have taken over;
it is bound to become the axis
around which any post-development
list notion of justice will revolve.
Justice in future will be about taking
less rather than giving more. The
less powerful countries within the
present generation need more
environmental space to flourish and
cheerful restraint on the part of the
opulent countries.
Wolf Gang Sachs
Teacher in the field of
environment,
development, and
globalization
- Albert Einstein
Moral Hygiene
As per Ayurveda Adharma are
Asatkarma (immoral or improper
behaviour) also leads to epidemics.
Moral hygiene, therefore, as totally
distinct from mental hygiene, is an
integral part of the Ayurvedic
conception of the prevention of human
ills. A bad morality, asserts Ayurveda,
cannot be conducive to peace and
happiness of the community and vitiates
even the normalcy of the elements of
nature, and qualities of the soil and its
produce and even the seasonal
phenomena like rainfall, heat and cold,
etc. It is not necessary for a
materialist to accept this view, but the
general ethical approach to world
problems, which follows as a necessary
corollary to it should be acceptable to
everyone.
Pandit Shiv Sharma
Author of famous book
“System of Ayurveda”